Manager, Infrastructure (Hybrid)

Claire's; Rosemont (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Claire's is seeking a Manager, IT Infrastructure to lead Telecom Billing & Provisioning, Network Operations, AS400 Operations, and Systems Operations. You will drive day-to-day operations, monitor issues, respond to alerts, manage MSPs, and provision telecom services.

You will oversee budgets, vendor engagements, and contract negotiations, build high-performing teams, and ensure availability and resilience of critical systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in IT.
• 8+ years IT infrastructure experience, including 5+ in leadership.
• Experience managing enterprise networks and hybrid cloud (Azure + on-prem).
• Strong communication skills for a highly visible leadership role.
• Hands-on with Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet security solutions.

Responsibilities

• Provide direction and strategy for Global Infrastructure Operations.
• Manage Infrastructure Operations and Telecom Billing & Provisioning.
• Act as Infrastructure site lead.
• Oversee budgets and vendor contracts.
• Build relationships with business leaders and vendor partners.
• Lead a team of engineers and MSPs.
• Ensure network availability through metrics and SLAs.
• Plan and track projects to on-time, on-budget delivery.

Skills

Leadership

Budgeting

Vendor management

Network operations

Hybrid cloud

Communication

Mentoring engineers

Project management

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Cisco networking

Juniper networking

Fortinet FortiGate

Job description

Brief Description

The Manager Infrastructure leads the IT Infrastructure operations organization, including: Telecom Billing & Service Provisioning, Network Operations, AS400 Operations, and Systems Operations. In this position, you will be responsible for carrying out day-to-day operations, including: monitoring for issues, responding to alerts, managing managed service providers, and provisioning new telecom services. In addition, this role manages the capital and operational infrastructure budgets, manages vendor engagements, and negotiates contracts.

Brief Description

The Manager Infrastructure leads the IT Infrastructure operations organization, including: Telecom Billing & Service Provisioning, Network Operations, AS400 Operations, and Systems Operations. In this position, you will be responsible for carrying out day-to-day operations, including: monitoring for issues, responding to alerts, managing managed service providers, and provisioning new telecom services. In addition, this role manages the capital and operational infrastructure budgets, manages vendor engagements, and negotiates contracts.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides direction and strategy for the Global Infrastructure Operations
• Manage Infrastructure Operations and Telecom Billing & Provisioning
• Act as an Infrastructure site lead
• Vulnerability and patch management to ensure KPIs are well established
• Responsible for Telecom and operations budgets
• Work with vendors, reviewing and negotiating contracts
• Build and maintain strong relationships with business leaders and vendor partners
• Manage a team of FTEs, contractors, and managed service partners
• Use metrics to optimize the network and ensure availability and stability
• Create and deliver SLAs, KPIs, issue tracking, and project updates to Sr. leadership
• Oversee change, incident, request, and problem management within the team
• Plan and track projects, ensuring successful delivery on time and in budget
• Optimize processes and proactively seek opportunities for improvement and savings
• Work with engineering teams to suggest new technologies and improve existing infrastructure
• Develop and maintain written documentation of systems, applications, processes and policies
• Develop and deliver progress reports, proposals, requirements documentation, and presentations
• Proactively identify and communicate potential issues and devise contingency plans
• Provide oversight, accountability, mentorship, growth opportunities, with a keen focus on creating high performing teams
• Build high-performing teams through the development of individual team members and by recruiting, hiring, managing, and mentoring engineers
• Enhance escalation procedures and workflows for the timely resolution of all issues within areas of responsibility
• Participate in research of technology solutions in support of new initiatives
• Ensure the availability of all critical systems
• Manage day-to-day network and telecommunication vendor relationships and hold vendors accountable to their deliverables
• Resolve vendor issues and escal ...
• Ensure comprehensive monitoring is in place and reliable

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or demonstrated equivalent level of applicable experience
• 8+ years of progressive IT infrastructure experience, including:
• 5+ years in a leadership or management role
• Proven experience managing enterprise environments across:
• Network infrastructure
• Hybrid cloud environments (Azure + on-premises)
• Hands-on experience designing, implementing, and supporting highly available, scalable systems
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, comfortable with a highly visible role
• Strong hands-on expertise with:
• Cisco networking (routing, switching, firewalls)
• Juniper networking technologies
• Fortinet/FortiGate firewalls and security solutions
• Deep understanding of:
• LAN/WAN architecture
• VPN technologies
• Network security and segmentation
• High availability and redundancy design
• Experience working with and managing Managed Service Providers
• Experience managing complex multi-million $$$ budgets
• Exposure to contract creation, negotiation, and delivery
• Capable of delegating tasks and mentoring technical teams
• Experience managing parallel projects, creating KPIs, and developing relationships with key stakeholders
• Strong organizational and management skills
• Ability to efficiently manage a global team and a variety of projects concurrently
• Experience designing and implementing large-scale infrastructure technologies is a plus

Summary

The Manager IT Infrastructure will manage the group responsible for Telecom Billing & Service Provisioning, Network Operations, AS400 Operations, and Systems Operations. In this position, you will be responsible for carrying out day-to-day operations, including Server Hosting (cloud, on-premises, and co-lo datacenters), Data Storage, Backups, Disaster Recovery services and more. Ensure that networks, telephony, Internet and Intranet services, computer operations and system monitoring are resilient, reliable and operational. Responsible for ensuring staff is meeting and exceeding expectations regarding performance, and that standards and processes are followed to provide effective customer service and meet requirements.